The ardent vision of dreams and rational thinking about reality coexist in Wang Ju.
| Author: Huang Xianyi
Before the broadcast, no one thought that "Love Is Delicious" would become a dark horse that broke through from the big drama.
This drama was once rejected by the platform on the grounds that "the script is not sweet enough, and love is too suspended", and was once stranded. Just like 3 years ago, in the first few episodes of "Creation 101", no one expected that Wang Ju, who failed to make up for the group after kicking the pavilion and being "fished" back as an auditor after elimination, would become the most suitable example of the program slogan "Headwind Overturning".
In the early summer of 2018, Wang Ju, who broke into the public eye for the first time, with bronze skin, a powerful figure, and undisguised ambition, was a rather alternative existence among 101 girls.
Wang Ju solicited votes for herself on the stage of "Creation 101".
When the show was popular, coinciding with the launch of the "Love Is Delicious" project, director Chen Zhengdao accidentally saw a clip of Wang Ju loudly saying "redefining China's first girl group" on the stage, at that moment, he was suddenly moved and felt that he had found the "summer dream" in his heart. Therefore, in the case that the script is still in the outline stage, Wang Ju became the first actor in the whole play to be fixed.
In Douban's long review, Chen Zhengdao recalled the creative process and praised Wang Ju without hesitation: "Her self-confidence and humor, as well as the challenge to traditional aesthetics, have provided us with rich nutrients for shaping the role of Xia Meng." During the whole shooting process, Wang Ju's earnestness and hard work made me feel the strength of Xia Meng even more. Neither Wang Ju nor Xia Meng would concede defeat at their dreams. ”
After 3 years, returning to the center of the topic as an actor, we see a more logical and self-consistent, more self-accepting, and learned to find a balance between bondage and self.
Poster of "Love Is Delicious".
Warm hypotheses
In 1994, Ang Lee filmed "Eating Men and Women", using diet as an incision to talk about people's reason and emotions, as well as the conflict of ideas under cultural changes. In Love Is Delicious, diet becomes a metaphor for love.
Director Chen Zhengdao explained, "This drama is about the concept of eating in the new era, I think that the concept of diet and the concept of love are sometimes somewhat compatible, what kind of people you like, this matter does not make sense, just like eating." I like the movie "Eating Men and Women", eating men and women, people's desires, this is an age-old exercise, love what to eat and what not to eat, love which person does not love which person, it is worth exploring, I think "Love is delicious" is positioned in this situation. ”
The personalities of the three heroines in the play are also established in their respective eating habits.
The competitive Xia Meng loses weight all year round and pursues a ketogenic diet; the cautious Fang Xin (Zhang Hanyun) is born with an allergic constitution and dietary taboos; liu Jing (Li Chun), who is sullen and screwed, loves to study recipes, has his own unique dietary preferences and does not change easily.
Stills from "Love Is Delicious", Wang Ju (right) plays Xia Meng.
The three have been good friends since they were girls, but their life trajectories and difficulties are not the same. Xia Meng is emotionally trapped in the "strong woman and weak man" mode, so she falls into the deception game of "rich woman playing Cinderella" when the new love comes; Fang Xin returns to the workplace after divorcing her cheating husband, but because of her beauty, she is used as a vase and sexually harassed; Liu Jing is a career and love are in a trance, and need to make a choice.
Different from the idol dramas that desperately sugar and the urban dramas that deliberately amplify anxiety, "Love Is Delicious" wraps the plight of women with light comedy, presenting a warm growth story mixed with laughter and tears.
On September 1 last year, "Love Is Delicious" was launched in Chengdu, which was also Wang Ju's birthday. From the surprise and excitement when he first received the invitation to star, "I wanted to sign the contract immediately", to the project was stranded for two years, until the moment of start-up, Wang Ju had a sense of reality.
In Wang Ju's eyes, Xia Meng is a woman who works very hard in her studies and work, and at the same time, she is also trying to hide her inferiority side, such as appearance and body shape. Emotionally, Xia Meng is not as decisive and assertive as she is at work, so she is also groping and growing little by little, like an experiment, slowly understanding what kind of emotions are most suitable for her.
In the finale of "Love Is Delicious", the three heroines have a dialogue with their childhood selves across time and space. The heroine dressed in a wedding dress looked at herself standing in front of her when she was a student, and couldn't help but ask softly: "Is the way we are now, is the way you want to live?" "Did we disappoint you?"
When filming this scene, Wang Ju cried all the time, feeling that her emotions had never been so full. "I think this scenario is a very warm hypothesis, because you can't have a chance to talk to yourself as a child. Each of us has fantasies about our future when we are young, and these fantasies are often the most beautiful, but they will be shattered by reality little by little when we grow up, so nothing will be warmer than living as the self we most wanted to be when we were young. ”
Wang Ju said that now he is the adult he longed for when he was a child, but at that time, he did not know what the price of growing up would be. When Xia Meng said "you are too hard" when she was a child, she always couldn't help but break her defenses.
The original intention has not changed
After the broadcast of "Love Is Delicious", Wang Ju's acting skills were recognized, and some people were surprised why she would act. For Wang Ju, the dream of an actor that sprouted since childhood is the driving force behind her step-by-step approach to the public.
When she was a child, Wang Ju studied dance and acting in the Children's Palace, often talking to herself in the mirror, imagining that she was starring in a movie or TV series. Later, Wang Ju joked that his "drama essence" expressiveness was trained at that time.
Until middle school, Wang Ju was an active member of the school's literary and artistic activities, and in the eyes of her middle school classmate and actor Guo Xiaoting, Wang Ju got rid of a "replica Xie Na". Logically, Wang Ju attended the art examination acting class in her third year of high school, and also applied for the performance major of many well-known art colleges. But the result did not go as Wang Ju wished, the art exam fell one by one, she had to compromise with reality, according to her parents' expectations, turned to art education.
After graduation, Wang Ju became a primary school music teacher, but the dream of being an actress never faded in her heart. "The most desirable thing in the human heart will be polished repeatedly in reality, but it is still rooted there." Just like taste, if you like to eat spicy, even if you don't eat it every day, the taste will not change. I haven't changed either, I know what I like in my heart. ”
The ardent vision of dreams and rational thinking about reality coexisted in Wang Ju, "I knew that under the circumstances at that time, I could not immediately engage in the job of an actor, and I needed to support myself before I had the opportunity to approach it step by step." I don't think the best way to pursue your dreams is to keep going, hit the south wall and not look back, or that it's not feasible for the vast majority of people. It is more feasible to recognize the reality, recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, do the best within the scope of your own control, and then continue to look for opportunities and get close to your dreams. ”
In this "curve chasing dreams" plan, applying for a model agency assistant is the first step taken by Wang Ju. Starting as an assistant and then becoming a model agent, you have the opportunity to contact the show business circle and thus get the opportunity to perform.
When taking the model to wait in the background, Wang Ju saw that the chase light would only shine on the catwalk, and standing in the dark, she sometimes couldn't help but want to go forward. But in fact, the only stage that can make Wang Ju perform is the company's annual meeting.
At this time, the registration notice for the talent show "Creation 101" was sent to the model agency group. As Wang Ju later said when she debuted on the show, "all the previous efforts were in preparation for this moment", and she seized this long-awaited opportunity.
In the summer of 2018, Wang Ju's popularity reached its peak, and she successively received some film and television invitations. "I can feel from the appearance invitationS I have found, but in fact, people do not recognize me and do not believe that I can be an actor." But I can understand, because I really don't have a work, you just talk about yourself, people still need to see your work to believe. She is reluctant to "take a sharp" and "brush her face" in various dramas, "even if I want to act, I still wait for a role that really suits me." ”
Wang Ju's first film appearance was in a small role with only a few shots in "The Man Taken by the Light". "Because I really like that role, although there are very few scenes, but she is an interesting person." Wang Ju said.
Wang Ju (right) made a cameo appearance as chopsticks (Bai Ke) in the movie "The Man Taken by the Light".
Slowly accept your own ordinary
In the process of filming "Love Is Delicious", Chen Zhengdao often temporarily added lines to the actors because of some inspiration on the set, and Xia Meng complained that "now even the girl group has begun to act" is one of them. This line was spoken by Wang Ju, who debuted in the women's group draft, and the comedic effect was instantly doubled, becoming a clip that netizens relished.
When proposing to add this sentence, Chen Zhengdao was worried that Wang Ju had concerns and asked her: "Are you saying this is OK?" Wang Ju didn't mind at all: "No problem, in fact, there is nothing to worry about." If you are worried, it seems that you cannot accept the identity you once were. I feel that the programs I have participated in and some of the things I have said in the past have become history and cannot be changed, but people can change. If you don't accept it yourself, how can others accept you now? I used to be a person who was well known to everyone because I participated in the girl group program, and now I want to be recognized by everyone as an actor again, and I am bound to be mentioned in this paragraph. So I think it's normal and nothing is wrong. ”
Compared with Xia Meng, Wang Ju believes that her self-tolerance and self-acceptance are higher. But this kind of self-tolerance and acceptance did not happen overnight, but also went through a long process of exploration.
During college, Wang Ju couldn't help but compare herself with other girls, and she would also imitate others. "See a beautiful girl today, try her style, tomorrow see another, and want to try this person's style." I was complacent and felt that I was very good at learning, but I knew that I still didn't have self-confidence because I hadn't been sure what I wanted. ”
Looking back now, Wang Ju began to truly accept herself, thanks to the experience of working in a modeling agency.
At that time, she took the models around Shanghai every day to run interviews, and many models stood in a row, holding up their own model cards, being selected by the clients one by one, and then changing to the next place, and so on. In the interviews and selections, Wang Ju saw more and more clearly the cruelty of the modeling industry. "Pick the standard appearance as the top, look at the face, look at the figure, look at the tall, fat and thin, but these things can not be accumulated, with the passage of time, people will definitely get old." You can extend the beautiful cycle as much as possible in various ways, but one day, when the appearance is no longer enough to sustain you in this industry, what do you rely on to make yourself valuable? ”
In more than a year as a modeling assistant, Wang Ju has seen a lot of people who make her sigh in her heart that "how can it be so beautiful and so handsome", but after working for a long time, she found that what can really make an impression is not only appearance, some people in their professional fields exude charm, but also make her convinced. "Then I slowly began to accept that I really don't have such a good look, but I can improve my inside and I can have my charm." 」
Wang Ju, who jumped out of the uniform aesthetic framework, also hopes that his appearance can bring some positive encouragement to others. "I don't think every girl should live a certain way to be successful, you can find your own example, all kinds of can be, I just provide one possibility, but one more possibility I think is also good." 」